Since 2017 I have volunteered on Wednesdays and Fridays in year 2, 3 and 4 at Ingleby Mill Primary School and for additional experience, I volunteered in Ayresome Primary in year five and six.  I assist the teachers with intervention work, and I support pupils with their learning.Friday lunchtimes I run a gardening club replanting the beds in the year three and four calm garden. The children and I researched the types of flowers and vegetables we wanted to plant, and we arranged a small fundraiser to raise funds for gardening supplies. I mark and allocate homework for year three and also work with children who find certain aspects of the English curriculum difficult. The thing I love is any opportunity to work with the children. I have taught a year three class sign language to ‘A wonderful World’ by Louis Armstrong, which had the parents and some teachers in tears. This was one of my proudest achievements to date. I’ve gained many skills through volunteering - I have good organisational skills, have developed stronger communication skills and I am confident dealing with both adults and children. I have developed my presentation skills – asked to present at the school's Bright Futures event in 2017, where I spoke to the children about my role as a University student. There is so much to fit in a school schedule due to a packed curriculum and these skills have been essential. I’ve also learnt that you can prepare the greatest of lessons, but sometimes they don’t go to plan! Reflecting upon them and understanding why they didn’t work, makes you a more resilient teacher. Experience at Ayresome was also invaluable – this school has a very high percentage of pupils with EAL (English as another language). I was able to utilise some of the skills I learnt whilst living in Saudi Arabia - I can speak limited Arabic – which surprised some of the pupils! I would encourage all students to volunteer as much as they can fit in around their studies and as early as you can. Not only does it look great on a CV, but it also helps develop and strengthen interpersonal and communication skills. Some of my fellow students thought they wanted a specific career but after they had volunteered, they realised that it wasn’t for them and were unsure of their next steps. Others on my course have volunteered in a variety of settings – it's all about the experience. I am a firm believer that everybody is good at one thing, it took me until now to realise that this is what I am good at, teaching. Without volunteering, I wouldn’t have realised this. I commence teacher training on the Stockton SCITT programme in September 2020. I arranged a meeting with the careers service to discuss my UCAS Teacher Training application. They were invaluable at providing advice with regards to my statement. Two of the team were also present at my Stockton Teaching Alliance Interview – which was a surprise – but I understand that this programme is working with the University so it was a good opportunity for the staff to see the whole picture from discussing my statement to sitting in on the interview.